Chapter 7: The Price of Devotion.

I grip the threads, the thought bringing me to laughter. It may work, or I might just explode, but that just made the thought more exciting. I couldn't make a long message though, not over the threads. I also couldn't just yell loudly enough for them all to hear me, not with all the noise happening below. I needed it to be simple, so simple even a squid could get it.

I need more power! No. Don't think I could send that along… How about something simpler, like… Give? Along with the intent of power, strength? Probably the best move I have.

I closed my eyes, connecting with the threads. Like a true tyrant, I demanded!

"GIVE!" The threads shuddered under my demand, sending it along like the old can and string straight to the squidizens. Nothing happened, not immediately. I checked the threads and saw the squidizens looking around confused, having clearly heard me, but not understood. Fine then.

"POWER!" I push along the line, give it a moment for the line to stop quivering. "GIVE!" It was more like a landlord demanding rent really, not quite what I wanted. Which was to directly take it from them, but… I wasn't strong enough to do so, especially from so many of them. Even if I did, I'd probably waste most of the energy collecting it like a tax collector.

After one more commanding, GIVE! The squidizens realized what I wanted and fell to their knees almost simultaneously. A sudden burning influx of energy worked its way up and into my hands that I immediately thrust into the air, coalescing it into a ball shaped energy… ball. It was nice, but…

I need "MORE!" I demanded! The energy flow stuttered before pulsing as more and more energy pumped into the energy ball above me. This was a fine flow of energy but not enough. It would take me like, half an hour at this rate… I couldn't wait that long. Not with the thing thrashing about and trying to reach me, whilst eating up squidizens at a prodigious rate.

"MORE!" I cried again, the flow barely improving. The squidizens in full on transfer mode, no! still too long! I'm not waiting a whole episode for this damn ball to power up! I need you damn squidizens to put some skin in the game! I NEED MORE!!!

I wasn't sure if they heard me or not, but something happened. I can tell as the energy above my head fell down, impacting me like I was atlas holding up the sky. It nearly knocked the wind out of me as it expanded at a frenzied pace, threatening to crush me. It wasn't until I checked the threads that I saw what was happening, my heart nearly stopping, a chill running down my spine at what I was witnessing.

They were committing mass suicide. Or more like sacrifice to power me. In a single instant at least a quarter of the population just straight up offed themselves. With every passing second, I felt them dying at a harrowing rate, faster than what the giant core squid thing could do. By the time my mind caught up with the ridiculousness of it, the sheer audacity! The, the, DEVOTION! Nearly half the population had offered themselves without even bothering to slow.

I broke into frenzied laughter. The ball above me was so heavy that I thought for a second, I may have actually been atlas holding up the sky as I desperately tried to get them to stop. The weight of their devotion was too heavy. It threatened to drown me and shatter me. I needed them to stop. So, I cried out.

"It's enough! Stop! Cease! Desist! Halt!? Stop right there criminal scum!"

I wasn't sure where the last phrase came from, it just kind of came out as I tried to get them to stop. They do stop leaving me struggling to maintain my height as the ball presses down on me. As the last of the energy flows into the ball it suddenly lightens, but before I could take a breath it smashes down even fiercer this time.

Suddenly, I have a vague notion. No, it wasn't vague as I looked up at countless eyes looking down at me. The countless squidizen souls staring at me, into me. Judging me. I had a planet blowing up ball on my shoulders. Somehow that thought chased away what little bit of battle lust I had.

I was being weighed, judged. The thought infuriated me as I struggled against the weight of all the souls as they pressed down on me. I felt powerless. Useless. Like my life was in the hands of others… and I didn't like that.

"AAAAHHHH!!! YOU FUCKERS!" I screamed, my ki flaring as I pushed against the force pushing down on me, like a body builder doing a Power lift. I felt my body crackling, my quickly healing bones popping and cracking under the force as my battered and bruised muscles strained. Despite being in the air, I felt my feet hit solid ground as my will pushed.

"GET IN LINE!" With a mighty step, with a mighty heave I pushed and lifted the ball. I felt my world quake. A burn in my muscles as I push it up until I can't physically lift it anymore. I looked up at them with a bloody grin, blood dripping from my moth from all my injured organs. I felt those souls' quake, their eyes widen.

"Well? I got shit to do." I said with all the brevity I could muster and for an instant I thought they'd beat me back down like a fly swatter smashing a fly. Their judging gazes return, the air goes quiet. Even my own heart stills despite my bloody grin. It felt like I was about to die. Like my life and death was being decided by a simple coin flip. NO!

I pulled once more ignoring everything as I crushed my hands together. I couldn't even yell as I pushed and pushed. I gripped the ball, trying to bring it under control forcefully. A childish action, a tantrum, I knew, but somehow. I heard a sigh, an almost anticipatory look landing on me as the squidizens faded. Their souls merging the massive ball condensing rapidly under my force.

Once it was done, I held it in my hands panting, my whole-body blood red from all the burst blood vessels. It reminded me of a volleyball. It almost seemed to move in slow motion as I threw it in the air lightly and let it drop back into my hand. I was really fucked, but I could feel a cooling sensation from the ball.

A flare of greed reared its head. A gluttonous hunger as I looked at the ball. It felt like this ball was close to the threshold. A power I sought with all I had. I wasn't an idiot though, even attempting to eat it or absorb it would only kill me. Vaporize my body and soul. Even just the radiating energy had an intense effect on my body rapidly healing it, fixing what was broken. Reforging me.

But, I couldn't hold onto it forever. My body, my blood began to burn and bubble as it began to oversaturate. I look down to the planet below, the tentacles thrashing about. I looked at my energy ball. Calling it a spirit ball didn't seem right. It wasn't blue, instead a blood red. It wasn't calm, instead looking at it gave me a feeling like I was looking at countless people, countless souls.

Mm… A soul ball then? If sacrifice was easier, no, I imagine I could just steal the energy at some point. Did Kai give Goku a childproof skill? Perhaps he knew the technique could be misused? I don't know, and it's not like I can look up the wiki at this point.

Regardless, it was time to get crack'in. I threw the ball up, then as stylishly as I could I fly up.

"SOUL BALL! Slam!" I slam it down like a professional volleyball player. The ball slams forward, it gains speed as it breaks the sound barrier, only growing faster as it breaks more and more sound barriers. The ball shrinks down to the size of a pinball by the time it impacts the tentacle blocking up the massive hole.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but seeing it simply fly through the tentacle without doing any notable damage was disappointing. However, an instant later the whole tentacle bursts into a bloody meaty mist. The earth below crackling, almost deforming as the soul ball goes deeper and deeper. Even from here I can feel the planet distorting as the following shockwaves dent the planet in.

I hold my breath, even as my heart pumps in readiness. I blink and realize I should probably back up more. Which proves prescient when the planet quakes. The planet seemingly expands thrice over from the inside, like an over boiled egg. The atmosphere expands out, much of it impacted by the encroaching shockwave launches into space forever lost. The planet below shattering into countless floating continents held together by strings of landmasses. I was just on the edge of the shockwave, the blast just pushing me back shaking my injured organs and forcing me to spit out blood and meaty chunks.

I didn't feel the pain as my body shook. The core was open, A massive mutated squidizen pulling itself out of the core. Almost unwrapping itself from the core. The thing was massive, Himalaya's big. Eyes covered it, massive tentacles slithered around its forms. The thing was wounded, incomplete as its body struggled under its weight.

I wasn't enough, no, not as I am! The new atmosphere did nothing to hide the moon. What vapor and water blasted out as the endless sky above was clearly visible. I grinned a feral grin as the animal within was ready to be unleashed.

With a laugh I turn to face the moon, letting myself fall to the earth, letting what gravity remained to take hold.

"HAHAHA!!! MONKE TIME!!!" I laughed and yelled like a maniac as the form took hold. My body expanding, my soul growing as I became the great oozaru!! My body free-falling, we shifted and turned so that we were falling belly down. I felt the air grow heavier, as if I was being pulled in. The air growing heavier me and my monkey self Together in accordance.

We slam down, shifting into an elbow drop just above the giant squid, slamming into its big disgusting head, slamming into the planet that quakes and shifts under our immense weight. I, we, leap up taking our measure of each other. The giant squid screaming in rage incoherently as we KAIJU BATTLE!!! Our two bodies slam into each other as we wrestle and yell at each other. Beams shoot from my monkey mouth into its face before it slams my mouth shut burning my mouth and making smoke blast from my nostrils.

It whips me with its tentacles forcing me back, my mind working overtime. Monkey-fu! I yell out in my mind as Monke me shifts into a stance. A thick tentacle whipping towards us is gripped, our whole body shifting, wrapping the tentacle around our arm as we reel in the Kaiju squid and use the momentum of it pulling in to slam it in the face. Our foot slams down on another tentacle, pinning it under our weight.

With a loud monkey noise and twist of our body and hips. We tear out the tentacle wrapped around are body with a bloody tearing scream. We proceed to use the tentacle like a wet noodle to slam into the giant squid before discarding it and continuing to pummel it with our monkey-fu! We still get pushed back by the sheer wall of tentacles, the distance growing just enough for us to blitz forward, ending in a jumping front kick, slamming into its tentacles it brought back to brace.

Our fight continued as beams and punches shot out. The world under our feet shook and quaked. Chunks of landmass occasionally were used as beat sticks and were either decimated to nothing or sent flying into the atmosphere as we went full KAIJU!!! I almost couldn't tell, all the while laughing and exalting at the sheer power behind our blows. Each strike against its flesh sending sparks of pleasure down my spine, until finally I had it cornered as my heart hammered, shifting my gears to max, my heart hammering, my whole presence for a single instant multiplying crazily.

My single step caused half the planet to seemingly crater in as I moved in close. I followed with a series of powerful blows going full ORA ORA ORA!!! Whilst our feet held down the giant squid by the tentacles that rapidly tore and ripped under our furious assault. The world below was on its last limbs, how it hadn't died yet I still wasn't sure, but as I finished my barrage the bloody squid creature looked nicely tenderized but still alive.

Our bodies collided again as exhaustion set in, the both of us pushing against each other in a final confrontation like Sumo. We head butt the squid, but it wraps around my arms and legs, squeezing so hard I can hear the bones bending and cracking. Our heads slamming together as our eyes meet. In that instant I feel all of them line up on me, a force slamming into my mind like a tidal wave as I bite back the growing pain…

I could retaliate, but I bid my time, letting its mental tendrils dig deeper and deeper. Letting it grind away at my soul, sharpen it like a blade. I felt so close. The pleasure growing to a final big release. My body, my soul together squirming under my hold as I held in the release, letting it build and build.

I felt it digging up my past, my memories, who I once was. Feeling it scour them, look over them. What I brought forward were my worst trauma's my greatest hates and fears. Giving it ammunition to strike my psyche as I let it cut and scour me. It was suicidal giving it so much leeway, letting its tentacles infiltrate my mind, but all I had in mind was the release, the thrill, the satisfaction!!!

It was about time; our mental battleground swiftly approached the big climax as it reached the point of no return. I grinned in predatory preparation as it touched the final memory, I would let it touch. The memory of the Director. That odd man, the one likely behind all of this. The thing seized, froze. All resistance freezing as its eyes widened, shock working its way through its body.

I took the chance, our body and soul moving as one. Both transformed, both MONKE!!! With a mighty stamp and twist, we wrapped the Kaiju squid in a massive hug, our body taking in a massive breath as the soul moved forward like an angry hungry monkey, chomping and biting into the tentacles. The pain forced the squid out of its shock, its eyes shaking as it beheld me.

There was no question as we prepared to loose, the burning heat, the need for a final massive climax superseding all else. It tried to speak. An echoing pitiful thing. It never got the chance, as one we screamed. We screamed as we loosened our hold, letting the energy rampage through us, crushing the squid as we unleashed a Soul Howl!!! Right into its face!

It felt right as I felt my body spasm as my cells rapidly adjusted and changed, my body and soul changing clear to the untrained eye. We only stayed standing by hugging the creature, our scream echoing and hanging in the air, the squid's eyes began popping one by one as the pupils within went crazy. I had heard squids, or was it octopi? Were they more octopi people!? No, that doesn't sound nearly as good as a squidizen. Octopeople? NO! SQUIDIZEN!

Anyway, I had heard they had brains in their tentacles, or brain cells or backup brains. Seeing the eyeballs burst one by one meant it likely did. It was a strange clarity even as my mind seared white from the lance of pure pleasure running down my mind as my soul expanded. I saw everything like it was brighter, truer. Like I had a veil over me or gauze shunting my perception.

I felt everything so clearly, every touch of the weird tentacle sent tingles up my spine as my body felt over sensitive and hyper aware as it thrashed and moved. The pain of the flailing limbs faded into pure unadulterated pleasure as I felt like moaning under the thrashes. Only prevented by the fact I was already screaming, a scream that was extended by the over flood of emotions pushing in and through me as I continued.

When only a few eyes were left on the squid's head it rallied, for a single instant I felt it. It sent a single thrusting blast of memory, it was everything I could want and more as it sends me reeling, the words only barely noticed even as my scream reached a whole new octave.

"YOU'RE JUST A PUPPET!!! JUST LIKE ME!!!"

Its final words, drowned out by my cry as its last eyes burst the thing going limp as we fall onto it heaving and twitching. We panted, breathed as the world below us shuddered. We were wrapped in the thing's tentacles, TENTACLES!... hahaha!!!

We began to laugh as we caught our breath, standing on wobbling legs as we celebrated like a true monkey, stamping and dancing as we beat our chest and blasted beams into the air. Expending our happy energy and being left only with exhausted hunger, we began the oldest tradition in the book. With gusto we ripped into the squid, consuming, eating, devouring. We slurped down the tentacles, ripped out and scooped out their brains as we ate. It still squirmed as if alive inside my stomach.

With a loud burp we collapsed on a mostly intact landmass, and we slept…